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Arab states to seek recognition of East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital

Jordan's foreign minister and the head of the Arab League said they would push for an international resolution on naming Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. This follows the US move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's.

"We will confront the [US] decision by seeking a resolution, an international one, to recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital," Ayman Safadi said following a meeting of Arab leaders in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority attended the meeting along with the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Abul Gheit.

Speaking alongside Safadi, Gheit said foreign ministers would attend a meeting of all Arab League states to discuss the decision at the end of January. He added they would also discuss Washington's role in ongoing peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

"We want to lessen any losses on the Palestinian side and lessen the Israeli gains," he said.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Clashes with police

A Palestinian protester hurls stones toward Israeli police during clashes near the Jewish settlement of Beit Al, close to the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinians called for a "day of rage" in response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. At least two protesters were killed on Friday during clashes with security forces.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Protests following prayers

Jerusalem itself has seen some of the largest protests, as here in front of the Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City. Hundreds of additional police were deployed to control the masses of protesters after Palestinian calls for protests after Friday prayers.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Protests reach Iraq

And those calls for protest have received a response from Shiite Muslims in Iraq. These men have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra. Palestinians are angry because they want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state; Trump's move, supported by Israel, could thwart that desire.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Israeli and US flags burned

Indian-controlled Kashmir also saw protests, with Muslim men seen here burning Israeli and US flags during a rally in Budgam, southwest of Srinagar. Protesters marched in several places in Srinagar and other parts of the region after Friday prayers, chanting slogans such as "Down with America" and "Down with Israel."

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

'Long live Islam'

In Malaysia, more than 1,000 Muslims protested outside the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur against Trump's decision. The protesters, led by Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, marched from a nearby mosque after Friday prayers to the US Embassy, halting traffic as they chanted "Long live Islam.”

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Turkey: Protesters voice their indignation

These Turkish women are venting their anger in support of the Palestinian cause. But Trump's decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem has been condemned by many governments of non-Muslim countries as well.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Trump's picture burned

Protesters in Egypt burn a picture of US President Donald Trump with his face crossed during a protest in front of the Syndicate of Journalists in Cairo. The picture reads, "Journalists are telling you Trump, Jerusalem is Arab." Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Al-Azhar mosque and outside in its courtyard.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

'Stop your blind support'!

In Jakarta, Indonesia, protesters in the world's most populous Muslim nation wear Palestine headbands. More than 300 protesters shouted "Go to hell Israel!" and called on Trump to stop his "blind support" for the Jewish state.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Massive marches in Iran

The streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, have also been the scene of huge protests at the US decision. As an arch-enemy of Israel, the Iranian government is likely to view the US move as particularly offensive.

Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests

Muslims in Germany join the outrage

Germany has also seen protests, with mostly Muslim demonstrators attending a rally at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate while waving Palestinian and Turkish flags. The German government has been among those to warn urgently against Trump's move.

Author: Timothy Jones

Arab indignation

Many Arabs consider the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. They reject Israel's claim over the entire city, which it captured in a 1967 war and later annexed, as illegal.

The Arab League branded the move a "dangerous violation of international law" with no legal impact.

At the end of December, a majority of the UN General Assembly rejected the US decision, while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on "all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital."

The city's fate is a central issue in the ongoing peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to make Palestine a "non-member observer state," deemed by many a de facto recognition of statehood. It also reiterated a longstanding UN call for Israelis and Palestinians to resolve the future status of Jerusalem through negotiations.

Jordan's King Abdullah II appeared to support that position on Saturday when he told Arab diplomats that "the question of Jerusalem must be resolved within the framework of a just and lasting peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis."

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Jerusalem, the city of David

According to the Old Testament, David, king of the two partial kingdoms of Judah and Israel, won Jerusalem from the Jebusites around 1000 BC. He moved his seat of government to Jerusalem, making it the capital and religious center of his kingdom. The Bible says David's son Solomon built the first temple for Yahweh, the God of Israel. Jerusalem became the center of Judaism.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Under Persian rule

The Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (3rd from the left) conquered Jerusalem in 597 and again in 586 BC, as the Bible says. He took King Jehoiakim (5th from the right) and the Jewish upper class into captivity, sent them to Babylon and destroyed the temple. After Persian king Cyrus the Great seized Babylon, he allowed the exiled Jews to return home to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Under Roman and Byzantine rule

The Roman Empire ruled Jerusalem from the year 63 AD. Resistance movements rapidly formed among the population, so that in 66 AD, the First Jewish–Roman War broke out. The war ended 4 years later, with a Roman victory and another destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The Romans and Byzantines ruled Palestine for approximately 600 years.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Conquest by the Arabs

Over the course of the Islamic conquest of Greater Syria, Muslim armies also reached Palestine. By order of the Caliph Umar (in the picture), Jerusalem was besieged and captured in the year 637 AD. In the following era of Muslim rule, various, mutually hostile and religiously divided rulers presided over the city. Jerusalem was often besieged and changed hands several times.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

The Crusades

From 1070 AD onward, the Muslim Seljuk rulers increasingly threatened the Christian world. Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade, which took Jerusalem in 1099 AD. Over a period of 200 years a total of nine crusades set out to conquer the city as it changed hands between Muslim and Christian rule. In 1244 AD the crusaders finally lost control of the city and it once again became Muslim.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

The Ottomans and the British

After the conquest of Egypt and Arabia by the Ottomans, Jerusalem became the seat of an Ottoman administrative district in 1535 AD. In its first decades of Ottoman rule, the city saw a clear revival. With a British victory over Ottoman troops in 1917 AD, Palestine fell under British rule. Jerusalem went to the British without a fight.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

The divided city

After World War II, the British gave up their Palestinian Mandate. The UN voted for a division of the country in order to create a home for the survivors of the Holocaust. Some Arab states then went to war against Israel and conquered part of Jerusalem. Until 1967, the city was divided into an Israeli west and a Jordanian east.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

East Jerusalem goes back to Israel

In 1967, Israel waged the Six-Day War against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Israel took control of the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Israeli paratroopers gained access to the Old City and stood at the Wailing Wall for the first time since 1949. East Jerusalem is not officially annexed, but rather integrated into the administration.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Muslim pilgrimage to Israel

Israel has not denied Muslims access to its holy places. The Temple Mount is under an autonomous Muslim administration; Muslims can enter, visit the Dome of the Rock and the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque and pray there.

City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history

Unresolved status

Jerusalem remains to this day an obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestine. In 1980, Israel declared the whole city its "eternal and indivisible capital." After Jordan gave up its claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1988, the state of Palestine was proclaimed. Palestine also declares, in theory, Jerusalem as its capital.